"Wait!"
Xiao Ara's reflexes stopped and turned around. "Are you talking to me?" Ara asked while pointing at herself.
"With an injured leg like that, you wouldn't be able to run and save yourself if someone were to mean something bad to you," said the old woman. Finally, their eyes met.
"Ah, do you mean my feet? It's just a normal injury and will soon…"
"Come here..." said the old woman interrupting Xiao Ara's words. After saying that, she turned and walked towards her hut.
Ara didn't know how to respond, the old woman looked a little…. Strange?
Feeling a little awkward, Ara didn't follow the old woman into her hut and just stood in front of the door, waiting.
After a few minutes, the old woman finally appeared with a bowl made of coconut shells. She came out and passed Ara without saying anything as if the girl wasn't there.
"Come and have a seat, spread your legs," said the old woman right after landing her body on the long chair made of bamboo.
Ara didn't know what she was going to do, but she followed her orders anyway.
"Put your feet up, let me see," said Grandma, one hand still squeezing the green leaves in the bowl in her hand.
Ara complied without asking any questions. 'What is she going to do with my legs?' Ara thought to herself, but the next second she groaned in pain. Biting her lip, trying to suppress the pain in her leg.
Without any warning, the old woman suddenly put down the bowl in her hands and immediately massaged her legs, rocking them left and right, back and forth, and doing circular motions on her feet. Then massage it gently.
The pain she felt was slowly fading away. Xiao Ara held her breath slowly.
"Drink it!" said the old woman as she handed her a bowl filled with leaves and green liquid.
"What?" Ara's brow furrowed clearly, saw the liquid in the bowl, then turned her face to the old woman's hands, she swallowed hard. Somehow she felt disgusted.
"I'm....I'm not thirsty. Thanks for your help, Grandma. Now my feet don't hurt anymore. I will go now," said Xiao Ara immediately lowering her feet from the chair.
"You are almost out of energy, your clothes are covered in blood, your legs are strained, and you are lucky that you survived the danger that threatens you. This is medicine for you. Drink it," said the grandmother with an appraising look.
Ara was silent, again not knowing how to respond. She was tired. .however… drinking that green liquid…
"Forget it if you don't want to. Go if you want to go, I only intend to help you. If you refuse, it's none of my business. We don't know each other after all," said the old woman as she put the bowl on the chair and stood up.
"Go, I want to continue my work. It's noon, you'll only annoy me," she said again, walking towards the pile of firewood she hadn't finished stacking earlier.
The corner of Ara's lips twitched. 'Disturbing her? Hey… she's the one who called me here, and I'm considered a nuisance? What a weird grandma.'
Ara did not move from her position and remained sitting there, she watched every movement of the old woman, occasionally her eyes glanced at the green liquid next to her.
'That liquid is medicine?' At the thought of the green liquid running down her throat, Xiao Ara shuddered.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, the old woman was busy with her activities, ignoring Xiao Ara as if there was only herself in the place.
"Grandma, why did you help me?" Xiao Ara asked. But getting no response from the old woman, made her sigh harshly.
From a distance, she saw several people approaching, a woman and a man, and several people wearing familiar clothes also entering her view.
Palace Soldier!
Ara didn't wait any longer and rushed into the hut without saying a word.
Grandma turned and saw the image of the girl entering the hut. Reflexively she stopped her activities, stood up from her position, and wanted to follow into the hut.
But her steps stopped when she saw several people walking towards her, two of them were people she recognized, they were people of village chiefs. What are they doing here?
"Grandma Chiyo…" a woman shouted, accelerating her steps towards her.
"Finally we found you," said the man with her, his breath ragged.
The old woman frowned, not making a sound. Slowly she assessed the people with him.
"Since this morning we look for you, we tried to pass the shortcut you usually use but we got lost very far before finally finding your whereabouts," said the man again explaining, as if she knew what was in Grandma Chiyo's mind.
"The Village Chief asked us to look for you. Some people are seriously injured and need your help."
"Who?" one word escaped the old woman's lips.
"There is no more time. Later, you will know it, now let's go, this is the village chief's order."
"Okay, wait for me a moment," said Grandma Chiyo then walked into the hut. She immediately took the shabby bag hanging on the wall and walked towards the exit.
Xiao Ara stood in the corner of the room, not making a sound. Trying to minimize her existence.
Grandma Chiyo glanced at her, and their eyes met.
When Ara thought that the old woman would question her very strange attitude, the old woman turned and continued on her step.
Xiao Ara peeked through the window, after seeing the old lady and the people walking away, a sigh of relief escaped her lips. Her body slumped to the floor which turned out to be just dirt.
"Apart from being indifferent, that woman doesn't have the slightest worried," Ara muttered under her breath.
If it had been someone else, she'd probably have asked her a lot of questions and had kicked her out before leaving her hut.
How could she leave her hut feeling calm with a stranger in it?
Hah… this granny is something.